At the National Prayer Breakfast earlier this year, President Trump vowed: “I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment.” The Johnson Amendment, named after former President Lyndon Johnson, refers to language in the Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) that prohibits charities, including religious organizations, from participating in campaigns on behalf of or in opposition to a candidate for public office.

The president took official action on May 4 through an Executive Order, titled “Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty,” that exhorts federal agencies to respect and protect “religious and political speech.” However, notwithstanding the controversy surrounding the announcement, including one organization’s threat to file a lawsuit the same day, the Order will have little practical effect, and the threat of a lawsuit was withdrawn.

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The 2016 election cycle is in full swing, and major changes to the financial services regulatory landscape, including the Dodd-Frank Act and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), could turn on the outcome of the election. Whether your company wants to play a role in the election or your executives are personally supporting candidates, it’s important to understand the rules.

We recently hosted a webinar on political compliance in the new election cycle. With the first criminal prosecution of a coordination case, changes in state ethics laws, and new disclosure requirements, we provided information you need to engage in political activities while staying compliant.

Florida Governor Rick Scott signed two bills yesterday that make sweeping changes in the state’s campaign finance and ethics laws. The campaign finance bill eliminates controversial accounts that some alleged were used by candidates as political slush funds, expands gift restrictions on state vendors, and gives expanded investigative powers to the state ethics commission. The …

Significant campaign finance reform legislation cleared the Maryland House of Delegates Thursday, and is now under consideration by a committee of the Maryland Senate. The Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2013 (HB 1499 and SB 1039) responds to recommendations of the recently convened Maryland Commission to Study Campaign Finance Law. The bill addresses…

On December 11, New York’s attorney general revealed new regulations that would, if adopted, require nonprofit groups doing business in New York to disclose the percentage of total spending devoted to political activities in New York. The rules also would require groups that spend more than $10,000 to identify any donor giving $100 or more.…

Today a D.C. federal appeals court temporarily reinstated a Federal Election Commission rule concerning when advocacy groups and others must disclose their donors, but has directed the FEC to clarify the rule or return to the courts for more litigation. The effect of the ruling is to put in limbo a key disclosure rule less…

With elections quickly approaching, last week the FEC finally issued a statement of how it will implement a federal court ruling striking down the Commission’s current regulation of electioneering communications. In late April, the D.C. District Court decided Van Hollen v. FEC, in which it vacated the FEC’s regulation requiring disclosure of donors to…